Opinion: Team USA in need of a karmic cleanse after rough start to Winter Olympics in Beijing

BEIJING – Anyone in the Olympic bubble have some sage and a smudge pot? Team USA could use a good karmic cleanse.

It has been a suboptimal start to the Beijing Winter Games for the Americans. Their stars aren’t shining, they’re still looking for their first gold medal – medals of any color, really – and they’re losing athletes to injuries and COVID-19.

“Like you can see, anything can happen, and it happens really, really quickly,” Mikaela Shiffrin said after she slid off the course five gates into the first run of the giant slalom Monday. “Nothing is given, and I’m not taking that for granted.”

The two-time Olympic champion was talking about her own fortunes but might as well have been talking about the entire U.S. team.